The Song Has Been Sung
by Ziva Lou
Summary: During the mass Pirate Execution in Port Royal, a boy starts singing The Song, instilling courage into the hearts of his fellow pirates to pass on the message, even after he himself has passed on. Oneshot, Songfic-ish. T for death. Review please!


**Just a quick little idea I've been wanting to write for a while. Enjoy, and please remember to ****Review****! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own 'Pirates of the Caribbean' or the song that was portrayed in 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End' under the title 'Hoist the Colours' by Hans Zimmer.**

**000**

I was shackled hand and foot, chained to countless other men and women, even a few children, accused of piracy. We were a dirty, bedraggled bunch, almost completely devoid of hope. The Code most of us had kept to so faithfully over the years, and Pirate Lords we served, had abandoned us to the East India Trading Company's gallows.

I stared stonily at my feet, shuffling forward every few minutes, as a clean man in a white wig read out the new decrees. Piracy, and any activities that might lead to it, were being suspended as fatally as the pirates around me.

Looking up for a moment, my heart clenched to see a boy, not much older than ten or so, walking up the steps to the noose. The courtyard being a silent, solemn place at the moment, I could hear as he started singing softly.

"_The King and his men,_

_Stole the Queen from her bed,_

_And bound her in her bones."_

His voice grew slightly louder, and more people around me were watching the boy as well

"_The seas be ours,_

_And by the powers,_

_Where we will, we'll roam."_

The executioner set the boy roughly on a barrel so that the noose would reach his neck as my eyes widened in surprise. I recognized those lyrics. He was singing The Song.

As the executioner placed the rope around the boy's neck, a dark skinned man at the end of the line started the chorus softly.

"_Yo ho, all hands._

_Hoist the Colours high."_

I straightened up and joined in, as did the people around me.

"_Heave ho, thieves and beggars,_

_Never shall we die!"_

A man in front of me started clanking his chains to the rhythm, and, inspired by his example, me and the others waiting to be hanged started to as well, still singing.

"_Yo ho, haul together,_

_Hoist the Colours high!_

_Heave ho, thieves and beggars,_

_Never shall we die!"_

The song faltered as the boy and his companions on the gallows were silenced forever. Thrusting my head up higher as the line shuffled forward, I continued with the second verse.

"_Now some have died,_

_And some are alive,_

_Others sail on the sea._

_With the Keys to the Cage,_

_And the Devil to pay,_

_We lay to Fiddler's Green!"_

Their morale boosted once more, my fellow pirates began singing again, even as seven more swung from ropes.

"_Yo ho, haul together,_

_Hoist the Colours high!_

_Heave ho, thieves and beggars,_

_Never shall we die!"_

The line moved forward once more as three women and four men were led up to the nooses. I opened my mouth to start the second verse, but one of the men, a tall, broad fellow beat me to it, singing in his deep, powerful voice.

"_The bell has been raised,_

_From its watery grave._

_Hear its sepulchral tone!_

_A call to all,_

_Pay heed the squall,_

_And turn your sails to home!"_

Even as he and six others were killed, (_murdered_, I thought darkly) I and the others continued our song, our cry for help. I silently prayed that the Pirate Lords would answer the summons.

"_Yo ho, haul together,_

_Hoist the Colours high!_

_Heave ho, thieves and beggars,_

_Never shall we die!"_

I walked forward with six others, stopping by the noose third from the left. As the executioner moved among us, I fixed a hard look towards where Admiral Beckett, the monster who had ordered all this, sat and repeated the boy's words.

"_The King and his men,_

_Stole the Queen from her bed,_

_And bound her in her bones!_

_The seas be ours,_

_And by the powers,_

_Where we will, we'll roam!_"

Even as the lever was pulled and I gasped for my last breath of air, I couldn't help but smile as the others continued on.

"_Yo ho, haul together,_

_Hoist the Colours high!_

_Heave ho, thieves and beggars,_

_Never shall we die!"_


End file.
